Swim Benin

June 22nd, 2017 Swim Benin training at the US Embassy

STORY OF SWIM BENIN

In 2015, I served as an English Language Fellow for the U.S. State Department in Cotonou, Benin. Where is that, you ask?? It's a small, French-speaking country next to Nigeria in Africa.

CIA World Factbook - Benin 

In my 10 months there, I found a country with open and friendly people, good food and magnificient beaches. But it is also a place where drowning claims many lives every year.

As a teacher, I had the pleasure to meet many young people who had the drive to make their country better and studied hard to acheive their dreams. However, in this harsh environment, I also found that youth did not have access to many means of recreation to enjoy their lives.

Coming from the California surf culture, I immediately gravitated to the sand, surf and sun. However, I was the only one swimming in the ocean. Unlike in California, in Benin, hardly anyone swims in the ocean or goes into pools.  

In fact, the ocean is a source of fear. Most Beninese can share personal stories of friends who have drowned. Learning how to swim means overcoming fear. I hope to transform the water into something that is no longer feared but enjoyed. 


The pool in the photo is at Friendship Stadium (Stad de l'Amitie) and was part of an Olympic training facility built in 1982. It, like many other public works projects, are financed by the Chinese. Today, it is open to the public but their are hardly any funds to maintain it. There's no chlorine in the pool and the pump no longer works. However, I counted myself lucky to use it about twice a week.

The first time I swam there, I was amazed when a group of teenagers recorded videos of me swimming! I felt like a celebrity as they asked me how I learned how to keep my body afloat. I told them I was from California and that everyone knows how to swim. Then I always heard the same question..... "Can you teach me how to swim?" 

Believe it or not, there is still predjudice and ignorance to such a degree that some people still believe that Africans can't swim. This stigma is so strong, even some Africans believe it. But it is really a matter of having the opportunity.

How could they imagine that as a child, I was given "Mommy and Me" classes at the local public pool?  That as a teenager, I participated in junior lifeguards camps where my friends and I swam for miles in the ocean. That we in the U.S. use the ocean for recreation whether through surfing, kayaking, fishing or stand up paddling. 

In contrast, I remember the girl I met at the pool. She served food and drinks at the pool side tables. I told her she was lucky because she must go swimming a lot. I was heart-broken when she told me she didn't even have the money to buy a swimsuit. So we went to the local second-hand clothes market and I spent $3 to buy her a swimsuit.  We went back to the pool, where I saw her smile as she jumped in the pool for the first time.

In January of 2016, I established the non-profit Swim Benin in California. To date, we have had 6 swim events in Cotonou from one day swim lessons to a month-long swim camp last August. We are building momentum and now are a registered NGO in Benin.

Please contribute and we will make sure we keep creating swim events in Benin. 

Dan Airth, Founder

Swim Benin Facebook 
  www.facebook.com/swimbenin
Link to SwimSwam Article
 https://swimswam.com/changing-tide-help-benin-swim/


Me and some students in Benin 


Henri Joel Amoussou, Chairman in Benin, Monika Rohmer, Associate Instructor from Germany, and Instructor Rayan at the August 2017 Holiday Swim Program